Although every story emphasizes different elements of fiction, Stuart Mclean captivates his audience with humor, conflict and symbolism in his short story Sam the Athlete. This is a story of a boy who is about to start the daunting first year of middle school and learned valuable lessons.
Stuart Mclean adds humor in his story to engage the reader. In the beginning of his short story, Sam is threatened by failure in every aspect of his life involving sports. It all starts in grade one when “Sam’s teacher reminds her class to bring clothes for gym for the next day” and not aware of how things work in the world of sports “Sam looked around the class, wondering which kid was Jim and why he couldn’t bring his own clothes.” Later, instead of quitting the all girls field hockey team “Sam went home and shaved his legs.” It’s the little real life things, which we all can relate to, that make this story humorous. Such as when Dave finds Sam in his room “wearing a skirt practicing [his] moves in front of the mirror and holding a Lady Bic razor.” And after an “uncomfortable silence”, Sam explains that he has a secret and he has “been dressing up as a girl.” In this particular scene, the readers know the reasons as to why Dave finds his son acting this way, but the character Dave is unaware of the details which make it awkward, there for funny for the readers.
Conflicts in a story are what make it interesting. We all don’t want to hear stories where nothing goes wrong- that wouldn’t be fun! In this story, Sam wasn’t very athletic; which created a lot of problems for him even though “all Sam wanted in the world was to be an athlete.” And even though “he kept trying so hard, he kept failing –miserably” at all soccer, baseball, bowling and hockey. When Sam had an epiphany and ‘his suspicions were confirmed’ that the team he just joined was an all girls team, which created the biggest problem of them all. He had finally found his calling, but he was a boy. Sam had the choice to “just disappear silently” and “never come back to the field hockey team.” But “at the end of practice when Coach lined the team up and handed out the team uniforms” Sam decided he didn’t care and chose to play anyways, making it “Sam’s first-ever skirt.”
The red runners symbolize comfort for Sam. He seems to think that buying the newest, coolest shoes will equip him for this big step into the life of middle school. When his mom took him shopping he sighed as he watched the sales man take out “the red runners…wrapped in gold tissue” out of the “royal blue cardboard box” and all his fears began to lighten. Thankfully the “firm but spongy” sneakers fit perfectly. Even though the shoes really wouldn’t make a difference, they made his world just a little bit better.
When Sam was handed his first ever uniform, the fact that this was an all girls team didn’t seem to matter anymore because for once he belonged to a team and he was now finally good at something. “Sam had been aching to hear those words ever since his first soccer game.” Sam skirt symbolizes acceptance. Stuart Mclean uses humor, conflict and symbolism in his short story and it makes all the difference; allowing no room for dull writing.
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